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I have Comcast broadband service at home and have determined that it is surely blocking my access to the website of one of my clients. I thus decided to contact Comcast tech support through live chat to try to remedy this. However I only succeeded in getting someone clueless who claimed it was a problem with my computer and kept repeating “Comcast does not block websites” when clearly my lack of connection while on Comcast to a website that I have verified is actually up and running and accessible while NOT on Comcast should be proof that they in fact DO have some kind of problem on their end, either a block or more likely (since they do not block websites!) some kind of routing issue.

I even pointed to MANY confirmed cases of others experiencing the exact same problem, all on Comcast:

But it was all to no avail. When I realized that she would not put in any sort of inquiry or request to try to get someone smarter to look into the situation (surely someone in their company with some knowledge must exist), and in fact wouldn’t provide any support other than to tell me to empty my browser cache (but “only on Internet Explorer as we do not support any other browser”) I angrily typed:

Me > This is worthless
Me > where can I file a complaint?
Me > I would like to file a complaint for your service

To which the response was:

Dawn > Analyst has closed chat and left the room
analyst Dawn has left room

28 Responses to “Comcast blocking access to website”

On behalf of Comcast I want to apologize for your chat experience. The issue you are describing is usually due to a router on a home network, but I will have someone reach out to you to see if we can help.

Thank you Frank. Though your more or less immediate response to my random blog post scares me.

I’ve replied to Mr. Frank by email letting him know the details of my particular connection and the host I am having issues reaching. I have already confirmed that it is NOT my home router as I have removed the router from the equation and indeed, traceroute still fails to route to my destination.

I know this might sound dumb but, maybe you should try the FCC or Public Utility Commission. It could help I know the Comcast is on the FCC SH∞§ list. Also I think if the site in question his a store to it then that could bump it up a bit in the FCC eyes!
I don’t know but I thought that there was some kind of law that side an ISP can bock it. But I don’t remember…
Sorry I hope it help it’s late here and I have the flu!

I believe that comcast is also blocking Yahoo e-mail. I can’t send to any Comcast subscriber, including my own account, from Yahoo. I got on the phone with one of their technicians (Erica). She tried very hard to help including sending from her Yahoo account to my Comcast e-mail. When it didn’t work she went to a “supervisor” who said the problem is Yahoo and left me with no solution.

Unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot Comcast or any other ISP is obliged to do. I’ve worked for a few web hosting providers and Comcast blocks SMTP traffic A LOT. I don’t know what their criteria is for blocking but I’ve seen un-compromised SMTP servers that have only been up for a few days getting blocked by these guys.

The problem is outdated rules and regulations. The Internet is still considered a luxury and not a public utility. Because of this it’s not possible for ATT to block your phone calls but they can block your internet traffic or dump you altogether.

I believe the reason we don’t have net neutrality is that the people making the rules are all old white dudes who can’t figure out email. Their only concern is the organizations that contribute to their campaign.

It will probably work itself out as a new generation of politician takes over who are more internet savvy. Heck even Obama is pro net neutrality.

The live chat agent did admit that Comcast blocks emails from some servers, but blocking all email from Yahoo is pretty extreme! Terrible that they haven’t done anything about it since it’s already been confirmed by their agents.

Comcast has lost a lot of money and there stock price is going down hill fast then there service. There stock has always been selling at the same price at 20 – 16 between 2000 – 2006 now comes 2007 and the stock goes to a high of 27.08.
Then people start saying that they can’t get there web mail from yahoo and site are being block a long with other things that Comcast has done! So here my question for you Ann. Is it possble for a ISP to rise the stock price by filtering there network! My think for this is when Enron did it with power in Cal right before they want down! Now I know make power and running a ISP are to different things but, same kind of idea. By keeping traffic low on there network couldn’t they say to invester “look at are networks they are so fast because we put so much money in them?” When in reality all they are doing is pack filtering?
I don’t know if it possible but here the google page that kind of give me this idea!http://finance.google.com/finance?q=comcast+&hl=en&meta=hl%3Den
Anyway just a thought and I have the flu! But I am still going out to meet Obama today!

After some internet research I concluded that my problem was likely an isolated case relating to some kind of problem with routing between my current Comcast-assigned IP address and my client’s server (definitely EXTERNAL to my home network and pretty certainly within Comcast). I requested a new IP address and voila! Problem solved!

Thanks to Frank for looking into the problem for me. I also submitted a request to Comcast via Mr. Frank letting him know what my offending IP address was as well as my client’s server address so they can hopefully look into the situation to prevent it from happening again. Let’s hope I don’t get another problem IP address when the lease expires again…

i go to a website that worked fine. then one day it stopped working. BUT! only for my internet. and other computers. and all comcast connections. another similiar site was blocked too. I have nothing to live for without them and I am now going to walk into comcasts offices and kill them all.

I don’t think yours is an isolated problem. I had the exact same problem happen to me recently on a client’s website. For years I had no problems accessing the site, then all of a sudden a few weeks ago I got a server not found error message. I thought the problem was with the hosting provider, but I noticed I could access the website when I was at work.

The true test came when I used my home connection with a VPN token from work. Using my VPN token I could access the website. When I disconnected from my VPN, the website URL returned a server not found error.

I also had problems logging into the control panel for the ISP (LunarPages.com) for this site through my Comcast connection, so Comcast is blocking access to some LunarPages hosted websites…why I have no idea.

Frank did write back to let me know that they were able to replicate the problem I was having on their end and it was indeed a routing issue. If this is happening to you then I suggest you do the following:

– Note your current IP address and the server you are having problems accessing. Report this info to Comcast (We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com) stating your problem as a suspected routing issue.

– Request a new IP address from Comcast OR force an IP address change yourself by changing your MAC address and resetting the cable modem. Doing a DHCP release/renew should then get you a new IP that hopefully won’t exhibit the same problems.

A new IP address didn’t help me. What did the trick was specifying the Domain Name Servers (DNS) manually. Since I started using my alma mater’s DNS I have not experienced the dreadful “Server not found” message anymore. You may have been lucky in that you received a set of DNS from Comcast’s DHCP server that are not in overload, corrupted, etc.

I’m sure the Comcast DNS servers frequently have problems as Comcast support did suggest I try setting mine explicitly using servers other than the DHCP provided ones as an initial troubleshooting step. However in my case this didn’t help as the issue was actually the routing between my Comcast-provided IP address and my destination IP.

Still as Bernd suggests it’s definitely worth trying alternate DNS servers in the troubleshooting process or even as a permanent option, especially if you notice frequent problems resolving domains with the Comcast provided servers and have access to more reliable alternatives. (There’s always OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, though I don’t really have any stats on their reliability.)

Thanks Ann,
I came across your post after having the same problem with Comcast in Seattle. I managed to get a new IP by just powering down my modem / router for a couple minutes, and that did the trick.

It’s definitely a Comcast routing issue because the first thing I tried was hooking up to openDNS, and it didn’t work. Of course the only response I’ve gotten to the email support ticket I put in with Comcast two days ago is the automated “Your Message Has Been Received” mail. They are awful.

In regards to OpenDNS’s DNS servers, I use them exclusively and have never had a problem. Very fast and reliable. I am also a comcast customer, and so far the only problems I have with them is my speed dropping out for no reason for days at a time resulting in calls to tech support that tells me I have a signal problem, and they do “something” at the office there, and tell me it should be better. My speed goes back up to normal for a week or more, and then a week or two weeks later it drops back to less than half speed, and the cycle starts over again. Not only do I believe that comcast engages in packet filtering in order to boost stocks, but I also believe that they throttle connections arbitrarily as well.

I am having the same issue. My web site (the site I go onto all the time and edit all the time and need clients to view) is being blocked at my house and the ISP is Comcast. I can go to somewhere else and it works fine. My quick solution is using another ISP. Problem Solved! Though I don’t like the idea that another Comcast user might not be able to see my site. First I had to worry about IE browser issues, now I need to worry about Comcast. Never again with Comcast!

While I do not subscribe to Comcast, I have been notified by multiple Comcast subscribers that they cannot view my website, which displays fine through all other ISPs. I have shared your comments with those who have notified me of an issue, but like Philip, I am concerned about all those Comcast subscribers who will never view my site and services.

Same issue here. Site loads fine except when trying to access through an Comcast connection. It appears that they are not really BLOCKING as much as delivering the content very slowly. Anybody know what this issue is? Maybe we have to pay a toll to Comcast to allow our sites to load!

if you find a website blocked and your comcast not giving you a solution in that case you may use VPN and proxy. Here i providing a link http://www.primovpn.com it will help you to access your blocked yahoo. Try it!!